***The Starry-Eyed Revue***: dirty little secret

Title: Dirty Little Secret
Author: Jennifer Echols
Series: n/a
Publisher: MTV Books
Publication Date: July 16, 2013
Source: from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

From the author of the “real page-turner” (Seventeen) Such a Rush comes an unforgettable new drama that follows friends-turned-lovers as they navigate the passions, heartbreaks, and intrigue of country music fame.

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

Dirty Little Secret is only my second Jennifer Echols book -- I loved Such a Rush when I read it last year -- but I think I've already noticed a pattern. Ms. Echols likes to write about troubled teens who fall in love despite the odds as they work together to see their hopes and dreams come to fruition. At least, that's what I've gleaned from the two books I've read from her. I do have several others on my Kindle or on my shelf, but I haven't had time to read them yet in order to further research this theory. They all sound like great summer reads, though, so maybe I'll be able to make time for them soon.

All theorizing aside, I liked this book. There are aspects that are certainly relatable: the sibling rivalry, the over-bearing parents, the hopes for self-actualization. But then there was that one big issue -- the one that's grated on pretty much every reviewer -- that bothered me. But then I remember that Grayson in Such a Rush did a pretty despicable thing, and I forgave him for that, so I'm willing to overlook Sam's inappropriate behavior, especially after he made his own (would-be) sacrifice for Bailey's sake.

Another issue I had was that everything in this story happened within the span of a week or so. Bailey joins the band and falls in love with Sam in record time. I admit that at that age, everything is all about immediate gratification, which is partly why I could overlook Sam's behavior. But at the same time, this is the girl who's been feeling nothing for the last year. The timeline just seemed rushed to me.

At 18, I don't think I would have let my family push my dreams to the wayside. I felt sympathetic toward Bailey because I know what it's like to have a younger sister who's everything you're not. Not that we get to see much of Julie until the end of the book, but as Bailey divulges the details of her ostracism from her family, we do get to see a little of how Julie fits into Bailey's current behavior. I wish we could have seen more interactions with Julie during the book to see that it wasn't really sibling rivalry at all. Julie's concern for her sister is tangible there at the end, and it pretty much erased all of the nasty thoughts I'd had about her during the course of the novel. Especially after both girls took matters -- and their futures -- into their own hands.

I really enjoyed the story overall. It was fun and evocative, and it held my interest, even when I didn't always agree with the characters' actions. I loved the band dynamic and all the drama that surrounded it. My husband was in a rock band when we met, and this story made me a little nostalgic for those days. Because there wasn't always drama, just like in this book...when the performance starts, everything else just fades away. I think the author really captured the essence of being young and in a band and trying to make it big.

Rating:

About the author:

Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son.

Find Jennifer:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Labels: contemporary, dirty little secret, jennifer echols, music, reviews, simon schuster

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are the books we're teasing this week:

Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West
Series: n/a
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Xander opens the compartment above my knees and takes out a pair of leather gloves. As he pulls them on, I can't help but laugh.
"What?"
"You have driving gloves."
"And?"
"And it's funny."
"Funny adorable?"
I shake my head. "If you say so."

-- p. 90

Heh. I'd probably laugh, too, if some guy pulled out driving gloves when he picked me up for a date.

"Five days?" Ace asked, exasperated. His words moved me more than anything Sam had said. Sam lived life in a constant state of near-exasperation, whereas Ace rarely showed any emotion at all. If even he was exasperated with me, I deserved it.

-- 64% of galley

Hmmm...wonder what she did...or didn't do. :P

What are you teasing this week? Share it in the comments or leave a link so we can visit!